


Temporary Bliss

by strawberriesandtophats



Series: Disaster Management has always been their forte [8]
Category: Endeavour (TV)
Genre: Absence, Hope, Letters, M/M, Memories, Post-breakup, Set after S3E2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 04:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9474725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberriesandtophats/pseuds/strawberriesandtophats
Summary: These days, his relationship with Jakes only existed in his dreams and moments when he was caught off guard.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theCopperCow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theCopperCow/gifts).



These days, his relationship with Jakes only existed in his dreams and moments when he was caught off guard. Morse would wake up in the middle of the night and roll over, half expecting to see Jakes snoring on the other side of the bed with his hair all over the place. 

Some days Morse would fall asleep at his desk at dusk and ask the nearest officer about Jakes’s progress on their current case while gesturing to the empty desk when he woke up. Jakes would stroll through his dreams, walking beside him through Oxford’s streets or grin at him while leaning on a door frame, so real that Morse found himself writing letters to Jakes in his mind, ones that would never be sent.

Jakes had left things in his flat, mundane things that he’d forgotten and would not get back now that he had left the country. Morse hung the shirts in his wardrobe, folded the colorful socks and hid the cigarettes in one of the drawers. But he would read the stacks of Agatha Christie novels and listen to some of the records on good days. It was nice to have some proof that they had been…something, if only for a little while. Some memories were already fading, like the sound of Jakes’s footsteps and the smell of his hair products.

But one day when he was clearing out one of the drawers of his desk at work he found a slip of paper with a hastily written American address and a small drawing of an apple. On the other side of the paper slip was a note that said that Jakes would send a letter as soon as he had moved in, but this was an emergency address in the meantime. 

A letter from Jakes arrived at Morse’s flat the next week, and Morse carried it to work in his pocket, too jittery to read it at home. At the end of the day he took the letter out of his pocket and opened it at his desk, carefully noting that most of the other officers were gone. It was full of enthusiasm and demanding all sorts of news about what Morse had been up to and that he had better be taking good care of Thursday while Jakes was gone along with some inquiries about station gossip. It was only when Inspector Thursday tapped him on the shoulder that Morse realized that he had been smiling while reading about Jakes’s new life in the States.

“Everything alright, then?” Thursday asked, collecting his hat.

“Yes, sir,” Morse said, “he’s doing well. Everything is just fine.”

And it was. He might never walk beside Jakes again, or feel his hands on his shoulders or even hear his voice. But he had his memories and they were enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Now it is time for the Cowboy!Jakes AU.


End file.
